mental health – C-VILLE Weekly

Managing mental health during COVID

For some people, quarantine has given them the opportunity to spend more time with their family, catch up on their favorite TV shows, or finally learn how to bake bread, among other things. But for those struggling with anxiety and depression, this time may be very difficult, especially if they live alone.

To learn more about protecting our mental health during the ongoing pandemic, we spoke with Elizabeth Irvin, a licensed clinical social worker and executive director at The Women’s Initiative, which offers free and low-cost (now virtual) counseling to women.

C-VILLE: How may the pandemic be affecting people who struggle with anxiety and depression?

Elizabeth Irvin: The virus and our stay-at-home order are triggering fear and uncertainty for everyone. In different ways, that is showing up for people who had depression and anxiety before this all got started. Their symptoms are continuing and sometimes worsening, but we’re also seeing incredible resilience, with many people really putting in the extra effort to reach out and get the care that they need.

The other additional impacts on people with depression and anxiety are what’s facing so many people, including issues with job security, money, and childcare, as well as feelings of isolation and disconnection from others. So as those issues worsen during this time period, it’s that much more important for people with underlying conditions to take even more steps for their self-care and well-being.

What can people struggling with mental wellness do to stay healthy at home?

It’s so important to get the facts about the virus from reliable sources, and make sure to also take media breaks. Avoid…too much negative content, because it really increases your anxiety. Taking the healthy actions that we all can, like good hand-washing, social distancing, and having a plan if someone gets sick—that’s anxiety-reducing too.

I also recommend keeping a schedule and making time to do activities that you enjoy…If the despair or depression is really starting to settle in, you may not have any interest in doing these things. However, it’s really important to start activities often, even without a lot of motivation to them, because they themselves help you feel better.

Taking time to create calm in your day…and taking care of your body are very important. The studies on exercise are clear, both for reduction of anxiety and depression, as well as improved sleep. They also are beginning to show results of fighting the virus. You can do that by running in place in a room and doing jumping jacks—things that don’t even require you to go outside.

Lastly, there’s staying connected. We are physically distancing, but we can make scheduled times to call and reach out to friends and family through FaceTime, Zoom, or however you can. Checking in on a neighbor, from a safe distance, is just as important. We don’t want people to feel acute isolation during this time.

But if you’re trying these things at home…and your symptoms are worsening, please call and reach out for professional help.

What can those who aren’t struggling with
mental wellness do to support their friends and family who are?

Regular check-ins, in the way the person would prefer you to do them. That could mean a text, a brief phone call, or a scheduled longer phone call once a week…You can also reach out for help from a professional yourself to know at what point somebody might need more support.

Overall, do what you can to help and support that person, and recognize you also need to then take care of yourself. Don’t forget your own self-care as you’re supporting others.

For more information on how to access The Women’s Initiative’s free call-in clinic, go to thewomensinitiative.org

Proposed court docket would offer treatment programs for incarcerated

Increasingly, jails have become asylums. City and county officials are hoping to change that with a new court docket aimed at diverting people with mental illness from jail by the end of the year.

The therapeutic docket follows 18 months of data gathering by the local Evidence-Based Decision-Making Policy Team, which found that 23.1 percent of inmates—495 people—at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail met the criteria for serious mental illness.

“It gave us confidence that we had the numbers for a mental health docket,” says Pat Smith, the executive director of Offender Aid and Restoration, which handles local probation and re-entry services. “We still don’t know how quickly our docket will populate. We don’t even know that we’ll be approved yet.”

Earlier this year, General District Court Judge Robert Downer applied to the Virginia Supreme Court to form the new docket. Smith says they expect to hear back as soon as November, and could get underway by December. Separately, a $64,504 state grant has funded a docket coordinator position through June, speeding its implementation if it is approved.

Mental health dockets are becoming increasingly popular throughout the country as a type of problem-solving court, similar to the drug court that began in Charlottesville two decades ago. The docket is voluntary and offers people who qualify a chance at reducing or dismissing their misdemeanor criminal charges upon completion of a lengthy regimented treatment program, which lasts anywhere from six to 24 months.

Nearby, the Staunton and Augusta County mental health docket launched three years ago, and has graduated 14 people, with about a dozen others currently enrolled, says Dave Pastors, the director of Blue Ridge Court Services. Graduates have gone back to college, started businesses and reconnected with estranged family, re-establishing their support networks, says Pastors.

Representatives from the commonwealth’s attorney, the public defender, Region Ten and OAR would all help Judge Downer oversee a Charlottesville-area docket—with the commonwealth’s attorney having ultimate veto power over anybody being considered for entry into the program. Officials say that often a mental illness is directly linked to a person’s crime—trespassing, destruction of property, petty larceny.

Martin Kumer, the superintendent of the ACRJ, says the docket is a win-win. “In Virginia, the largest mental health provider in any community is the jail,” says Kumer. “I would much rather have my staff dealing with people who are here for criminal activity, rather than mentally ill people who are here for criminal activity. It’s expensive, and we are not equipped to deal with them.”

Neal Goodloe, the criminal justice planner for the Thomas Jefferson Community Criminal Justice Board, oversaw the collection of the data at the ACRJ and says a docket may help cut down on local recidivism rates too. According to the study, a small number of people—5.6 percent—were incarcerated four or more times. But that group made up 21 percent of the jail’s total bookings, and 33 percent of that group—a higher percentage than the overall population—showed signs of serious mental illness.

Goodloe says the numbers did not reveal any racial disproportionalities among people with serious mental illness, but that untreated mental health issues were more common among women than men. The study did not analyze data based on income level or age.